FCST Places 11th in Combined Team Effort! The Future is Bright!!!

Adrian Gomez

This past weekend, FCST had 23 athletes competing at the 2022 Short Course Texas Age Group Championships in Justin, Texas. The kids all swam very strong and with their combined efforts they came in 11^th place out of all the teams in Texas. Thursday night started off with some big swims out of our 12 year old boys Ethan Valerio and Kenny Zhou. Ethan went 5:12.31 which got 8^th place and Kenny came in strong with a 5:23 and grabbed 16^th place. The 13-14 Boys (Michael Yuen, Thoe Ho, Zayden Bach, Kenny Tran) finished out the night with a great 800 Free relay coming in 13^th place.

Friday started off with a bang having Andrew Nguyen making it back in the 100 Breast and the 100 IM. Andrew ended up getting 4^th place in the 100 Breast and 2^nd place in the 100 IM which set the tone for his entire meet. Ethan Valerio built on his momentum dropping 4 seconds in a great 200 Fly (2:14.69) which got him 11^th and bouncing back with a 200 Free (1:58.29) getting 14^th. Sofia Nikolakopoulos started her meet off with a big swim in the 100 Breast going 1:06.76 and grabbing 7^th place. While Ellie Zhang followed up with more great Breaststroke coming in 6^th for the 10 and Unders in the 100 Breast.

Saturday the kids came in ready to make a statement that they were ready to race! Winnie Liu came in hot starting with the 200 Fly coming in 5^th place and then turning around to get 5^th in the 200 Breast. Both Ellie and Sofia rallied from the night before with Ellie coming in 4^th in the 50 Breast and Sofia coming in 8^th in the 200 Breast with a time of 2:26.91. Mathew Kun and Will Gibson showed off their sprinting skills. Matthew dropped a 28.06 in the 50 Free coming in 9^th place while Will followed up getting 14^th Place for the 11-12 Boys. Andrew followed up his performances with getting 3^rd in the 100 Fly, 3^rd in the 200 IM and finishing out the night getting 7^th in the 50 Breast. The night finished out with the 11-12 Boys 200 Free Relay (Tanner Maxson, Will Gibson, Ethan Tran, Ethan Valerio) getting 6^th place.

Sunday morning was a great team effort with some great prelim swims and ended with some incredible relays from all the age groups. The 10 and Under Girls 200 Medley Relay (Ria Advani, Ellie Zhang, Kelly Liu, Emerson Woods) showed their strength by coming in 8^th place after making the cut a few weeks before. Andrew Nguyen finished the meet the same way that he started out the meet “GOING FAST” with his 100 Free getting 4^th place and 5^th place in his 50 Butterfly. The evening finished out with Michael Yuen putting his head down at the end of the 200 IM placing 9^th and going 2:00.20.

Top 16 Finishers

Will Gibson – 14^th in the 50 Free

Matthew Kun – 9^th in the 50 Free

Winnie Liu – 5^th in the 100 Fly, 8^th in the 200 Free, 5^th in the 200 Fly, 5^th in the 200 Breast, 11^th in the 100 Free, 11^th in the 200 IM

Andrew Nguyen – 4^th in the 100 Breast, 2^nd in the 100 IM, 3^rd in the 100 Fly, 3^rd in the 200 IM, 7^th in the 50 Breast, 4^th in the 100 Free and 5^th in the 50 Fly

Sofia Nikolakopoulos – 7^th in the 100 Breast, 8^th in the 200 Breast

Ethan Valerio – 8^th in the 500 Free, 11^th in the 200 Fly, 14^th in the 200 Free, 11^th in the 100 Back, 9^th in the 200 IM, 8^th in the 200 Back

Michael Yuen – 16^th in the 100 Fly, 16^th in the 400 IM, 6^th in the 200 Fly, 15^th in the 200 Breast, 9^th in the 200 IM

Ellie Zhang – 6^th in the 100 Breast, 4^th in the 50 Breast

Kenny Zhou – 16^th in the 500 Free

10 and Under Girls 200 Free Relay (Woods, Advani, K. Liu, Zhang) – 10^th Place

10 and Under Girls 200 Medley Relay (Advani, Zhang, K. Liu, Woods) – 8^th Place

10 and Under Boys 200 Free Relay (Nguyen, Kun, Balestrini, Wu) – 9^th Place

10 and Under Boys 200 Medley Relay (Balestrini, Kun, Nguyen, Wu) – 11^th Place

11-12 Boys 400 Free Relay (Gibson, Valerio, Maxson, E. Tran) – 6^th Place

11-12 Boys 200 Medley Relay (Valerio, E. Tran, Gibson, Maxson) – 8^th Place

11-12 Boys 200 Free Relay (Maxson, Gibson, E. Tran, Valerio) – 6^th Place